in and found him and father in their high-back chairs on each side of the
table, waging the classic argument that Rufus had reported them to have
discontinued at an early hour of the morning. Father was delighted with the
package of books that Matthew had brought out with him in his car, because
father considered them too valuable to be transported in the wagon which
was to bring the rest of the library.

"Just a little of the cream of the collection, Cradd," he said as he
unwrapped a small leather-covered volume which Matthew had transported in
the pocket over his heart.

"Just five hundred dollars' worth of cream," whispered Matthew to me, with
a whimsical look at the small and very ancient specimen of Americana. "It
is a good thing that Senator Proctor has only Belle and let her have the
six thousand cash for the Chauvenaise, and Bess wanted your little Royal in
a hurry, though she got a bargain at that. Still the library is really
worth five times what you paid."

"Sh--hush!" I said as I led the way before the parental twins into the old
dining-room. Father hadn't even questioned how he was to have the library
saved for him, and of course Uncle Cradd knew nothing at all about the
matter.

After seating me with the same ceremony he had employed since my arrival
into the family, though with hostility bristling psychologically for my
plebeian intrusion into his traditions of the Craddock ladies, Rufus
appalled me by offering me for the third time since my arrival at Elmnest
roasted ribs of the hog, muffins and coffee. Only my training in the social
customs of a world beyond the ken of Rufus kept me from exclaiming with
protest, but I came to myself to discover that Matthew was devouring huge